I had LM13 running on a PC and everything worked fine. I decided to install LM14 and the install went fine, but I had no audio even though it properly detected my SB X-FI extreme audio card. I tried reinstalling just to see if that fixed it, but no. I swapped computers, but put in the same card as I need its optical out to connect to my surround sound receiver. That PC had windows and the audio worked fine, so I know its not the card. I installed LM14 on the new pc and again, it detects the X-FI, but no audio.

I tried a lot of what has been posted on the web to solve the sound problem on the current Linux Mint (cinnamon). It had the sound at startup after logging in, but then it was gone. What worked for me, was this:1. open Terminal window (Ctrl + Alt + T)2. launch 'alsamixer' in the Terminal3. there's going to be text-mode configuration of volume levels. Go to the right and select "automute" setting (I had it enabled). Disable it by pressing enter.4. Sound works perfectly now.

I wish sound worked out of the box, I almost gave up after struggling with this issue for hours. Thank you for this thread!

I am also having problems with a SB card. I haven't seen your post earlier, because it didn't show up in search.Anyway, none of your solutions worked for me. Gnome alsa mixer has no effect. in terminal version of alsamixer I can't find that "automute" option.I have no analog or digital output. I really think I am downgrading

Guys - http://community.linuxmint.com/idea/view/3844 - I have posted an idea on having a Troubleshooting wizard in Mint for audio related issues. I feel it will really help new users migrating to Linux world. Request you all to have a look at it and provide your views and if it makes sense cast your vote on it. Am rallying the user forums who have sound issues to get consensus on the idea. Let us join our hands together in building a user-friendly Linux Mint.

HiI too have been all around the system looking at diagnostics & solutions that don't actually work.

Try this: fire up a terminal & give itsudo alsactl -F init

If alsactl is not there, you may need to use software manager to get it.

That's it. Worked for me.

REVISIONWithin a short time, sound was gone again. (I wonder how long this will last as a working solution? Mysterious unssen forces seem to be at work...)

First install & update alsamixer if it's not there. I have alsamixergui, alsa-utils, alsa-base installed, together with pulseaudio & supporting libraries. Use Admin > Syanptic, and Admin > UpdateManager to install.

As above, in terminalsudo alsactl -F init

then I found a need to tweak alsamixer.in terminalsudo alsamixerWhich generally comes up as a coloured panel with Master selecteduse up-arrow to up the volume of the Master control.Now scroll across the alsamixer controls using right-arrow >>, until you see the automute columnuse down-arrow to set auto-mute to disabled

Sound works again (for now...)

ProvisoNow, if you really don't have a correct sound driver, or your sound card is U/S, it isn't going to help much. Other posts have covered in depth how to grope around to attempt fixes for that.The alsamixer has F2 for system info (up/down arrows, enter to proceed, esc to get back)and F6 for card selection (up/down arrows, enter)

This is how it went, the story so far:I fired up a live DVD of Mint 14 Cinnamon ( 64-bit version). Because I'd lost sound before, I checked at various stages in my customisation that prefs->sound->[hardware] , [Test Speakers] (lower right of panel) was sounding out.Sound was initially present, but went AWOL as soon as I fired up the (should have been updated) Firefox, & set a FF password.

What's happening with Update Manager I don't know. It's trying to download AMD software for a non-AMD machine, presumably for the ATI/AMD RADEON video driver for an imaginary Radeon sound card which I don't have. There are missing repos. It hangs without giving a sensible reason.

I could really do with a working non-free nVidia driver, in a way that doesn't require reboot (which one can't do with live DVD). but that's another matter.Other distros manage to do that, it's bitterly disappointing that Mint chooses not to. NIH maybe.

Anyway, Update should have given me FF 20.0, but I see I still have the rather ancient FF 16.0.1 Odd.Update seems to be FUBA, failing to upload the right things, sticking at file 55 of 111, saying "no space left on device" when there's plenty.These are quite ancient & venerable errors, andreally should have been fixed by now. Sometimes I honestly suspect sabotage (but no-one would do that would they?) Surely it can't be foolishness or indifference?

Then I'm intodpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem. E: _cache->open() failed, please report.SNAFUPerhaps I should have done a bleachbit earlier, but there seemed genuinely to be no need up until Firefox.I am unhappy.

All that fell into place after stopping FF, running bleachbit (with the right language parameters) and a terminal > sudo dpkg --configure -a'as suggested.

To return to sound issues:I had already installed alsamixer, but it didn't look right, with only master-in & master-out levels. And no colour. And it didn't bring sound back.

I decided to take radical approach, to see if there was a repair already available.first I fired up a terminal & asked > apropos alsa which was unenlighteningso, > apropos sound (cunning, eh?) Which brought up, inter alia, something called "alsactl - advanced controls for ALSA soundcard driver " Worth a try I thought.After looking at alsactl --help, I first tried command >alsactl -F restore (just in case it had been backed up ) No dice.Go for it: sudo alsactl -F initand that works! (Good, init?)Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "Nvidia MCP77/78 HDMI" "HDA:10ec0888,1025015e,00100202 HDA:14f12c06,1025015e, 00100000 HDA:10de0003,10de0101,00100000" "0x1025" "0x015e" Hardware is initialized using a generic method...and faint noises from the sound test!So, continue to > sudo alsamixer which is now its technicolour self again. Use up-arrow to up the master volume (left/right arrows to select channel) (ctl-C to exit back to terminal)

Yippee, sound!!

Flash is version 11,2,202,243 and is still c### ("code")

Something is awry with the Firefox install. I suppose Minters & Mozilla can argue amongst themselves. Shouldn't take long. I blame Firefox & the culture therein, but I could be wrong.

Something is very wrong with the Updater, missing repositories, wrong things being detected & asked for.

It seems that something had set alsamixer "automute" to enabled. Very funny... Do these things really happen on their own? Should I call an exorcist?

This is puzzling to the casual observer, because one doesn't see the automute column in alsamixer as it comes up in the terminal (unless the terminal is very wide) - it's hidden way over to the right of the visible panel.

So, in terminal, sudo alsamixerthen right-arrow until you see automute (turns red)down-arrow to set auto-mute to disabled

I was having a lot of trouble with VLC, Banshee & Audacious playing the wma media files. I have a C-Media sound card that my sound works through. Since I dual boot my system with windows xp I tried a different approach to my sound issue. I have started converting my wma files to .ogg and transfering to my Linux Mint OS. I now have a very good listening experence playing my music with VLC Player. Haven't found a decent sound converter for Linux so I use the Free Rip program in XP. Works great for me.

I noticed the same problem working with the music cdroms. I had an idea what it was so I check the "MIXER" and sure enough it wasturned down to the lowest setting or I should say, OFF! So, check it out and make sure it is turned up.

Hellono need for that all:$ alsamixer (no need for sudo)F6 select your cardturn up all the needed channels press m to unmute (color changes pale to green). Important: when finished press esc to leave the mixer.If you want to save your settings (normaly no need for that) run $ sudo alsactl storehthRegardsNotabene: instead of creating new soundservers like phonon or pulseaudio they should provide the new users with a funky 3-d transparent cube shaped spinning and bouncing techno-music-playing alsamixer...wow! cool! What a mixer baby!